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couldn’t help but fall victim to the change of the season and the customs that came with it. It was now the middle of autumn, and Sobledthe, the harvest celebration, was only a few weeks away. Today they might be up to their elbows in foul-smelling kelp and rough, splintered driftwood, but tomorrow would be a day of rest, relaxation and good story telling. Jahrra thought it had been far too long since she’d been to the Belloughs of the Black Swamp, and tomorrow she, Gieaun and Scede were taking a day off from their work to enjoy themselves.
    That night, Jahrra found it hard to fall asleep. It had been months since she’d seen Denaeh, having only had two chances to visit the Mystic during her busy summer. And now the season had progressed well into fall, one of Jahrra’s favorite times of the year. The leaves were turning crimson and fire, and the green of the fields was ripening into gold. The crisp air weighed heavily with winter’s coming cold, but it couldn’t depress Jahrra’s spirits. Her vengeance upon her enemies was nearly complete, and as she finally drifted off to sleep, her lips curled into a satisfied smile.

- Chapter Three -
    Tales of the Past
     
    “I can’t wait!” Jahrra cried, pulling Phrym up alongside Bhun and Aimhe as she left the Castle Guard Ruin resting in the mid-morning light. “Denaeh promised to tell us a Sobledthe story, remember?”
    Gieaun shook her head in amusement and Scede rolled his eyes as they nudged their horses into a slow walk behind Jahrra and Phrym. The siblings were still reluctant to travel deep within the Black Swamp, but the idea of hearing a good Sobledthe story and doing something besides hauling slimy seaweed around at Lake Ossar was too good an opportunity to pass up.
    “Here is some of the extra horse hair we collected,” Gieaun said, reaching into her saddlebag and pulling out a huge tangle of multi-colored tresses as they moved eastward towards the forest. “I thought it would be a good idea to work on our Sobledthe costumes while we were listening to Denaeh’s stories.”
    Scede snorted softly. Jahrra cocked her head in his direction, but said nothing. She knew that although he agreed to accompany her and his sister into the Black Swamp, he didn’t have to like it. His distrust of the Mystic was even greater than Gieaun’s.
    “Now all we have to do is figure out how to use this in our costumes,” Jahrra said lightly, taking the large chunk of brown hair from Gieaun’s hands.
    “We could be horses,” Gieaun stated hopefully, reaching down and patting Aimhe affectionately.
    “No! Everyone dresses as a horse at the Fall Festival!” Scede complained, dropping his quiet reverie. “We’ll be in Lensterans, and everyone will be in costume. Do you want to look the same as everyone else?”
    Gieaun just stuck her nose up at Scede, thinking he was taking this all too seriously. Scede ignored her and kept talking.
    “I wish we could stay until after dark, that’s the most exciting part!” he grumbled.
    “I know,” Jahrra sighed. “It would have been neat to see the rituals and it would have been fun to dance around the bonfire all night.”
    Although Hroombra had given Jahrra permission to go to this year’s Sobledthe celebration in Lensterans with her friends and their parents, he hadn’t agreed on an all night excursion. Jahrra could only stay until sunset, but she was allowed to stay the rest of the night at Wood’s End Ranch with Gieaun and Scede.
    “When you are older, you will be allowed to go by yourselves,” Nuhra had told the complaining children.
    “When will that be?” Scede had asked rather flippantly.
    Kaihmen had almost smiled when he answered his son, “Oh, a couple more years at least.”
    “That’s ages from now!” Scede insisted.
    But his father refused to budge.
    Although they wouldn’t get to witness the fall festival in its entirety, Gieaun, Scede and Jahrra were looking forward to seeing the city of Lensterans in